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Visby is a Medieval walled city, located on the Swedish island of Gotland, that houses roughly 40% of the Gotland population. The Old Town itself is in such an exceptional state that Visby was crowned a UNESCO World Heritage site back from 1995. And appropriately enough, the city hosts a Medieval Festival every year.

Visby is also called the City of Roses/Ruins, and its names comes from Old Norse of the words ‘Vis’ and ‘by’ meaning ‘place of sacrifices’ and ‘village’, respectively. The city can only be reached by flying directly into Visby airport or by taking the ferry from Nynäshamn or Öland.

Visby is highly populated during the warm summer months with two weeks in particular that people try to avoid to stay way from larger than normal crowds. These weeks are:

• Almedalen Week - Usually week 26 - A forum for Swedish politics

• Stockholm Week - Usually week 29 - One week of partying from Stockholmers

Nonetheless, the city is a wonderful place to spend a weekend to explore its ruins and history while enjoying the modern comforts of traveling with great food, bars, and cafes. It is great place to stay while also exploring the rest of Gotland, most easily by car, by bus is certainly possible as well. This blog post will highlight some of the great spots to see within Visby.

Even further, if you have lots of time in Sweden, I suggest checking out some of the other cities in the country. You can check out my blog posts on some of them below:

• Stockholm (Blog Post Title: Why Stockholm is the best Scandinavian capital)

  • Stockholm Tunnelbana (Blog Post Title: The World’s Longest Art Gallery - Riding on the Stockholm Tunnelbana)

• Gothenburg (Göteborg) (Blog Post Title: A Tour of Gothenburg: Sweden's 2nd Largest City)

• Uppsala (Blog Post: Uppsala: the hidden gem just North of Stockholm)

• Helsingborg (Blog Post: Just a few reasons to see Helsingborg in the South of Sweden)

• Malmö (Blog Post: Take a weekend break in Malmö, Sweden)

• Lund (Blog Post: A Day tour of the university town of Lund)

• Kalmar (Blog Post: Kalmar: The town you should know more about in Sweden)

• Öland (Blog Post: A Day Tour of the Swedish island of Öland)

• Marstrand (Blog Post: A day trip to the Swedish island of Marstrand)

St. Görans Ruin (St. George) is the site of a former medieval hospital church outside the city wall. Because the church was made to serve those who had leprosy, it was built outside the ring wall of Visby. Dating way back to the 13th century, it was built on the site of another church that was erected a century before. Unfortunately, you can only see the ruin from the outside as it is closed to visitors.

Visby Cathedral, also known as Visby Saint Mary's Cathedral (Visby S:ta Maria domkyrka) is a cathedral and seat of the Bishop of Visby. You can’t miss it as it occupies a space in the center of Visby. Construction was started in the 13th century, originally as a wooden church, then replaced with stone…then expanded during the Middle Ages. Its transformation continued throughout the centuries, even while Sweden was under Danish rule. It has always been under Swedish rule however from the year 1645.

If you like some of my photos that you have come across, just know that I have many prints showcasing a variety of landscapes, including Sweden, available for purchase below! (Sold as Posters, Canvas, or in Metal-Frames).

The best part about this church is not just how nice it is inside, it is all the unique vantage points you can get within the city walls of the structure. A lot of the places are very popular but there are some passages that only locals know about for such views. Make your way to the side road Norderklint, just beyond the Kramhållplats, and you will usually find few people in this area of Visby.

The St. Nicolai Ruin was named after the patron saint of sailors, built around 1220 AD. Originally built for Germans, a fire destroyed it shortly after its construction and Dominican friars reconstructed it thereafter. Like many ruins that are located within Visby, this one is also has a long and storied history.

The Visby Town Wall is perhaps the most famous and obvious attraction in Visby. This wall was built as a defensive wall in the Middle Ages. Due to how well preserved it is (the best in all of Scandinavia), it is deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Two periods of construction were performed on the wall in the 13th and 14th centuries with a length of 3.6 km total. Surprisingly today, 3.4 km of the wall is still standing as well as a number of homes from that era as well. This wall construction was considered unusual back in that time because this practice of building city walls in the Nordics were typically not done, illustrating the importance Visby was at that time.

There are PLENTY of different towers and gates within the Visby city walls that have certain significance. Google would provide a much better resource than I could in discussing all of them. But one such gate of particular importance has to be Snäckgärdsporten otherwise known as the West Gate. This tower is one of the oldest in the entire wall and protected against assault actions, for example with battering rams.

Almedalen is the week whereby all Swedish politicians descend upon Visby. It is also the name of a park, centrally located within Visby. It was the site of the city harbor back in Medieval times, however these days the park is a popular green space for locals and tourists alike.

Botaniska Strand is a set of linked gardens that run along the beach in Visby. They have been protected by the ring wall from the harsh conditions of the Baltic Sea. The amount of vegetation and flora and fauna here is quite striking, especially for this part of Sweden.

Stora torget, or city square, is as the name would suggest, where all the magic happens. The square is packed with vendor stalls selling food and crafts, which are flanked on all sides by old medieval buildings serving as cafes and restaurants in the city square. If you’re like me, you will find roasted almonds here by just following your nose. Nothing better than warm sugary almonds at any time of day (my philosophy).

Whether you eat something here or buy anything or not, it’s just a gorgeous place to take a stroll and to really appreciate the atmosphere that this walled city provides.

Located right next to Stora Torget is St. Karin Ruin. To my knowledge, this is the most popular ruin within Visby, due to its central location and ‘great’ condition (a bit of an oxymoron). It was built in 1233, its shape consistent with a single-nave church with tall, round-arched windows. I really liked how the stone archways were still standing, providing you the imagery for how the church stood back in its halcyon days. Interestingly enough, the church was never really finished either.

There are more ruins and small little slices of Visby that are worth seeing, but make sure you take the time to walk the entire length of the city walls, stop at numerous cafes for some people watching and sustenance, and go off track to get away from the crowds.

Gotland is also a pretty big island, so if you are able to rent a car to explore more of it, then more power to you. Another wonderful place to check out is to the Northeast of Gotland on an island called Fårö. Check out a later blog post of mine where I will discuss what to do and see there!

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